Distant Horrors of the Road
by Shiva Darkwater
Summary: Past events may be unchangeable; yet viewing them can help to alter the view of the present and therefore change the future. (Zell centric)


**Author**: Shiva Darkwater | **Fandom**: FFVIII | **Rating**: PG-13 | **Summary**: Past events may be unchangeable; yet viewing them can help to alter the view of the present and therefore change the future. | **Disclaimer**: In the beginning there was SquareSoft. People from all over the globe came to worship them through buying their games, obsessing over their characters and writing fan fiction. I am just one of those people. | **Author's Notes**: This is a piece I wrote for another challenge that I participated in that was supposed to be about the past, present and future. Being the loyal Zell Dincht fan that I am; I wrote about our favourite lovable blond tattooed boy. He's so easy to understand and write for! (In case the switching scenes confuse you, the fic goes from future to past and then to the present. The present being near the end of the game in Zell's own Time Compression world.)

Distant Horrors of the Road

"Squall, where are you?"

Zell couldn't believe his ears. They had to be false. No… This couldn't be happening. Ever since Rinoa and Squall had met fours years ago… Never could he really think that this would happen. Irvine had doubted it and told him to forget about it. Quistis had rolled her eyes and shook her head saying it was impossible. Even Selphie had just smirked and said that there was no way… so why…

So why did he just hear from his friends that Squall and Rinoa were getting married?

The news was all around school, everyone knew. Of course everyone knew; it was _Squall_, the commander of the Balamb Garden.

It was Squall… so why couldn't he have a Princess for a wife…

"Because it's just completely WRONG!" Zell suddenly burst out with extra speed. He had to find Squall and get to the bottom of this.

"SQUALL!" He found himself banging on Squall's residence, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Would you keep it down? I'm trying to work."

The door opened and there was Squall, in the simplest place to look, his own room. Lounging against the frame of the door with one hand on his hip as usual, cool eyes gazed down at Zell. "What can I do for you?"

The epitome of cool, just like always.

Zell's anger started to calm just at the presence of it. "I… heard…" he tried his best to catch his breath.

A smirk crossed Squall's usually expressionless face. "Calm down Zell. You look like you ran a marathon."

_'I basically just did…'_ Zell thought and spent the next moment focusing on breathing before he rushed right in. Motor-mouthed Zell, just like always. "All over the school people are talking about you and Rinoa getting' hitched and I figured that COULDN'T be true because I mean, it's been four years since either of you has seen each other and so you two are completely different now and in totally different situations and you never really seemed to think about her much while she was gone and anyway she just LEFT you while she ran back to Timber and we all thought… but then…" And even though he couldn't speak anymore in the same breath his thoughts carried on, _'and please oh God please don't marry her, don't go through with this because it would break my heart!'_

A cloud passed over Squall's storm-like eyes, washing the humour from their depths. "Get inside…"

"Huh?" Zell could only blink.

"Get inside _now_."

Eyes widening, Zell hurried himself inside of Squall's spacious room. He couldn't even take his mind off of it to look around like he used to, to become amazed by the barrenness of the place. All he could do was stare at Squall. "Squall…?"

Squall leant his hip against the desk, which was currently stacked with paperwork. "It's true. I'm marrying Rinoa."

Flabbergasted, Zell tried to find the words but his jaw could only drop.

"It makes no sense does it? She left me four years ago to go back to Timber; she left me because she finally realized that this wasn't her place… And now she's coming back here. General Caraway said she was purged of the Sorceress, just like Edea was. She won't be a threat here."

"But Squall…"

"It's not like I really care much about her. After she left it was like I had finally woken up from a spell… General Caraway has planned it more to be like a peace declaration between Balamb Garden and Galbadia. Feelings aren't involved in this. Feelings never were."

Well, that was all well and good, but Squall still hadn't answered the question that was lingering on the tip of Zell's tongue and for the life of him he couldn't say it. But he knew…

"This has got to end. "

---

This has got to end. Day after day, lecture after lecture, test after test… It was more than he could really take. What was this anyway? Zell had given up everything to get the chance to go to Balamb Garden. 

At the age of nine he had started to save up his scarce allowance. Save ten Gil a day; that was his plan. And finally at the age of thirteen, with his and some of the neighbours help he had gotten himself a seat in one of the top military schools in the world. Yeah.

So why the hell had he spent the past year doing nothing but reading out of the textbooks, listening intently to the lectures as the most boring of instructors droned on and on, and tests. Zell hated tests more than anything. He couldn't study; he could barely focus on sitting without fidgeting for more than five minutes.

When would he get to go out there and finally do some field work? When would he get to learn magic, and about Guardian Forces and train to become a SeeD? When would he get to stand beside Squall Leonhart, the student who could ace the tests without studying, as an equal?

Squall Leonhart… he was Zell's hero. From day one since Zell had first come to Garden, that boy had saved him constantly from screwing up and getting into trouble. When he had accidentally spluttered ketchup on a senior cadet's uniform, Squall had miraculously been there to smooth things over. Squall may only be fourteen, but the name Leonhart still seemed to be one that no one really wanted to mess with…

A strong hand on Zell's shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts. Snapping to attention, he realized where he had wandered. _'Oh crap…'_

"Well, well, well, look what we have here."

Zell gulped as soon as he heard the voice, light blue eyes widening. Did he really have to look around? He knew who would be there; whom the hand on his shoulder belonged to even before it forced him around to face him. "Seifer…"

Green eyes smug, the fifteen year old grinned. "That's Sir Seifer to you Dincht, and don't forget it. And you happen to be on our turf."

Trying to stand as tall as possible, Seifer still reigned superior with a good four inches in height. He carefully tried to look around and saw the other two members of the bully's posse nearby. "Sorry… wasn't watching where I was going…" Zell glanced at the ground and shuffled his feet. Inwardly he gulped. '_Dammit! This is what you get for spacing off and not watching where you're going! Now you're gonna get it Zell. C'mon, be strong and take it like a man!'_

"You don't actually think you're going to get off that easily do you. By now you should know the consequences and learn to back off don't you think?" The hand on his shoulder tightened and Zell winced at the slight shoot of pain in his arm. "Or are you a masochist? Do you like the pain Chicken Wuss? Is that why you always end up coming back for more?" Seifer snorted. "Just like someone else I know…"

The derogatory nickname sent his adrenalin in high gear and he forcefully shoved the arm off of his shoulder. Seething, his body immediately got ready for a fight. "Don't you EVER talk to me like that Seifer Almasy! Calling me names is one thing but don't you EVER try and sink me to your level! I'm not like you!"

At the outburst Seifer couldn't stop himself from laughing. Clutching his stomach he tried his best to stay upright.

"Boss?" Fujin pushed herself off of the railing that she was leaning against, her dark eyes flicking over to the two immediately. "Help?" she innocently asked.

Seifer shook his head, his laughter dying down as Zell continued to silently seethe. "Nah, this kid's too entertaining to put him out of commission. Raijin, show him off our turf." His hand seized Zell's shoulder once again and he pulled the younger boy close. "Maybe we'll be seeing each other again real soon. I'm looking forward to it."

He never seemed to be able to turn away.

---

He never seemed to be able to turn away. Instead he sat at the shore's edge, watching the water drift on for eternity before it suddenly disappeared. It was an ocean, he was sure of that, but it didn't move. Instead it was still, as if you could walk right over it if you wished. Zell wasn't sure he was going to try.

None of this made any sense.

_'Where are the others?'_

By matters of deduction this seemed to be Time Compression, the one place where past, present and future collided and became one. Already from what Zell had seen he didn't like it. But it made no sense. The Sorceress from the future, Ultimecia, was dead. She was the one who created Time Compression wasn't she? "This is why you don't mess with time and space. It just confuses everyone involved.

"But maybe Ultimecia wasn't the only one who created this Time Compression. Maybe it's every Sorceresses goal and who knows how many Sorceresses there are. I mean… Rinoa's one, Quistis must be one and Ellone's one too. Then there's Edea and no one really knows what Selphie is…"

So in thinking that way there was a hell of a lot of Sorceresses.

In the distance, lightning struck the sky and the cry of a mighty bird reverberated throughout the stagnant air. Zell shivered. This place was really starting to creep him out, but he couldn't find the energy to move. It was as if the air as thick a gravity and was pushing him down to the earth.

Tentatively, Zell reached out his leg to the water to test if he really could walk on it. His leg sunk, but it didn't really feel like water, just like more air. "Is this place even real?" He turned his head and watched in fascination as a giant golden bird flew through the grey, star speckled sky. In its trail sparked lightning. "Quezacotl?"

 He had never really laid eyes on the mighty thunderbird, but Zell had used it as his primary Guardian Force for what seemed like ages now that he could recognize the cry instantly as the one that would stream into his head whenever he summoned her. He only noticed he was standing, gazing after the bird in awe as she vanished from the sky.

His journey wouldn't be over until he found the others and made it back home with them all safe. Then maybe the first chapter of his life would be over, but not yet. What was it that Laguna had told them?

"What place reminds you of your friends? Imagine being in that place with all of your friends. Once Time Compression begins, think of that place and try to get there! You need love and friendship for this mission and the courage to believe it!"

Sure it sounded rather hokey, but hokey could be good. And right now it was exactly what he needed to boost his spirits. Shutting his eyes, Zell immediately focused on the first thing that entered his mind. '_Squall, where are you?'_


End file.
